Birth

In the city of San Juan, Argentina, year 2000 marks the starting point for the Leechmaster project, founded by musician and composer Leandro Achinelli. Leechmaster fullfills the existing need of exploring new methods and ways of music composition and recording, all of which Leandro had already started to improve in previous years with his former bands. The concept is simple yet ambitious: Leandro is in charge of the composition, production, mixing and mastering of the songs and records, as well as the performance and recording of all instruments involved (Vocals, guitars, bass, percussion and winds) in multi track combining the real and virtual environment by means of virtual instruments programmed and sequenced with the computer. This challenge takes place at Leandro’s personal studio, used in all productions released to this date.

The purpose

Since the beginning, Leechmaster has been exploring other genres to enrich the main genre where the project develops: Metal. In its music, diverse influences surface going from middle-east music, celtic and tribal breaks to electronic, classical music and flamenco, even at some points leaving the main genre aside.

2000 – 2005

Between years 2000 and 2005 a handful of songs were recorded. They later became part of the first self-titled EP album released in 2005. During those years, the sound and the aim of the songs were developed, including distant productions such as ‘Enferma Realidad’ recorded in 2001, or newer ones like ‘Despertar’ recorded in 2004, as well as the songs which gave the final shape to the album: ‘Hellish Dreams’ and ‘Dias De Lluvia’ both recorded in 2005. As an exclusive downloadable bonus track, during that year a cover song of Sepultura was recorded: ‘Roots Bloody Roots’. The only excluded song from the album was ‘Cruel Castigo’, recorded during 2002 and later brought back by the band in which Leandro performs nowadays, Noosfera, in its debut in 2008 including lyrics written by Hernán Achinelli.

2006 – 2008

Following its debut album, two fundamental songs of Leechmaster were composed and recorded: ‘Anhelos’ and ‘Criaturas’. Both were recorded during 2006 and mixed/mastered during 2007 and 2008 respectively, having been published and released for free download in the mentioned years. During 2008 Leechmaster composed and recorded background music for 666 Heavy Radio internet station under the name of ‘Cortina 666 Heavy Radio’.

2009

Early in 2009, ‘Anhelos’ and ‘Criaturas’ were remastered in order to give both songs a better sonic quality. Later that year a new EP record was released in iTunes under the name of ‘Entre Anhelos & Criaturas’ including remastered versions of both songs plus ‘Cortina 666 Heavy Radio’ and an ambient/symphonic version of ‘Criaturas’. Between the remastering process and the recording of the new album, Leechmaster collaborated recording guitar riffs for the Codeten british electronic project. Even though at the beginning of 2009 Leandro had announced that he wouldn’t compose nor record new songs due to his commitments with Noosfera, in the middle of 2009 composition and recordings for a new song expected to be released the upcoming year (10th Anniversary of Leechmaster) began. By the end of 2009 the www.aboutnothingshow.com website chose Leechmaster to compose the background music for a new podcast dedicated to Metal which is about to see the light soon. The same website also chose ‘Anhelos’ as the introductory song for their podcast episodes.

2010: Ten years of Leechmaster

2010 is a landmark for Leechmaster, being the 10th anniversary of existence. After almost two years without having released new songs, ‘Trascender’ got published, having been recorded during 2009 and mixed/mastered during 2010. Being such a special year, it also marks the video debut of Leechmaster, something of which there will be news soon.

For ten years, Leechmaster’s music has reached many far points of the world and crossed unimaginable barriers. It has also been a forerunner in the genre not only because just one person composes, records, mixes and masters the kind of music that, in most cases, would take several people to achieve; but also because of its combination of real instruments with virtual ones, all of which has influenced other musicians and projects and, in some cases, has been subject of plagiarism. -